The Staff Of Karnath is a video game for the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game

Ultimate Play the Game

Ultimate Play The Game was a critically acclaimed video game developer of the early home computer era. "Ultimate Play The Game" was the trading name of Ashby Computers & Graphics Ltd. , a software company founded in 1982 by two ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper...

 in 1984

1984 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* May 10, King's Quest , the first animated adventure game, the first in the King's Quest series, and the first to use the AGI engine.* June 4, Nintendo releases Donkey Kong 3...

. It was the first of a series to feature the aristocrat

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

 adventurer Sir Arthur Pendragon.

Introduction

Typically for an Ultimate release, players are given a tantalizing and cryptic introduction :

"Many millions of years ago before man and his descendants, there lived a very different kind of creature. These creatures were known as Sarnathians, originating from a long dead planet and coming to Earth when their planet was on the verge of destruction.

They were an evil race, feasting on the torture and destruction of other creatures opposed to their rule. Their aim was the domination of the Universe through the use of a powerful orb of light, the very embodiment of evil, which was created from an unknown material when their planet was destroyed. Over the thousands of years of their terrifying rule, the Orb became too powerful even for them and eventually caused a tear in the inter-dimensional fabric of the Realm of Reality and ... sent every living creature on the Earth into the alternate dimension of Unreality.

Centuries later, the time of the Orb's most powerful state draws near and on Walpurgis Night (May Eve) at 12.00 midnight, this time will come. It is 6 o'clock on the very same day and your task, as Sir Arthur Pendragon, ace adventurer and researcher into ancient legends and sorcery, is to find the sixteen pieces of the pentagram, open the obelisk and destroy the Staff of Karnath before 12 o'clock.

Your quest of The Staff of Karnath begins..."

Gameplay

The game is set in a castle presented in a scrolling

Scrolling

In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...

, oblique

Oblique projection

Oblique projection is a simple type of graphical projection used for producing pictorial, two-dimensional images of three-dimensional objects.- Overview :Oblique projection is a type of parallel projection:...

 view. The aim of the game is to collect all pieces of a pentacle

Pentacle

A pentacle is an amulet used in magical evocation, generally made of parchment, paper or metal , on which the symbol of a spirit or energy being evoked is drawn. It is often worn around the neck, or placed within the triangle of evocation...

before midnight, in order to form the Staff Of Karnath. The pieces of the pentacle are guarded by various magical creatures, some of which can be defeated by casting spells, others requiring accurate timing and movement. Once a piece is obtained no more pieces can be collected until the pentacle is taken to a specific chamber within the castle.

The spells in the game were: Forthrin, Throbin, Knossos, Omphalos, Menhir, Aeolus, Baracata, Ibrahim, Stolv, Yerobas.

Images

External links

• The Staff of Karnath at Ultimate Wurlde